The first thing I taste from the surface of these pieces is a light sweetness followed immediately by some chile pepper flavor. There's a moderate burn building, and hints of the natural smoke flavor.

The chewing flavor starts out with some natural meat flavors and an increased sweetness. I can detect the black pepper a little, and can taste a saucy flavor as well.

For being marketed as, "Volcanic Jalapeno", it holds up well. I do get a good deal of heat from this, at what I would rate on my personal heat scale as "medium hot" (level 4 out of 5). And it even seems to "erupt" with heat in that it comes on as soon as it enters my mouth. I even get some chile pepper flavor too, but I'm not sure its jalapeno flavor, or the red pepper flakes all over these pieces.

Otherwise, the flavors that seem to define this jerky is largely the sweetness, and then a peppery flavor which seems to be a combination of black pepper and chile pepper, and then a light natural meat flavor, and a saucy flavor that perhaps combines the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and the garlic and onion seasoning.

The saltiness in this feels to be light as evidenced by the lower sodium content.

The natural meat flavors are light, but still manages to remain detectable throughout the chewing. It has a well-cooked flavor, almost reminiscent of ground beef.

Overall, it's well packed with flavor, attacking all areas of the tongue, sweet, spicy, and lightly salty, but still managing to keep some natural meat flavors.

Meat Consistency

These are strips of whole meat, but having the appearance of being pounded tender. They're of medium thickness and in lengths of three to four inches.

This is a dry jerky with a slightly moist, slightly sticky, surface feel. It's very flexible, and very easy to bite off and chew.

The chewing texture starts out feeling dry with little chewing resistance. It breaks down quite easily, and renders into a soft mass quickly. By that time it feels meaty, but more like ground beef, perhaps closer to meat loaf than burger.

I don't see any bits of fat on these pieces, but I do see some stringiness and can feel it in the chewing. Aside from that, it's mostly meaty with no other unchewable tissues.

As for clean eating, my fingertips tend to pick a faint stickiness, but still dry enough to type. I also get a fair amount red pepper flakes falling on my lap.

Snack Value

Carnivore Candy sells this Volcanic Jalapeno through their website at a price of $5.99 for a 3oz package. If you spend more than $45.00 shipping is free. So for 8 packages, the total comes to $47.92. That works out to a price of $2.00 per ounce.

For general jerky snacking purposes, at the $2.00 per ounce price, this seems to provide a good value. I'm getting a a lot of snackability for a great flavor, good meat consistency, and good chewing texture. That price is similar to what you'd pay for major brands of jerky at the grocery store, and yet it offers much better snackability.

As a jalapeno beef jerky, at the same $2.00 per ounce price, it's a good value. I'm getting a good deal of heat, and a fair amount of chile pepper flavor, though it's hard to tell if that's the red pepper flakes or the jalapeno.

Rating

I'm giving this a best rating.

This Volcanic Jalapeno beef jerky from Carnivore Candy packs a lot of flavor in each bite, giving off a variety of flavors, including a lot of sweet, a light saltiness, chile pepper, a saucy flavor, and a light tanginess. All the while, it manages to retain some of the natural meat flavors.

And true to its namesake, it manages to erupt in flavor and heat like a volcano blasting strips of meat laced in molten lava, enough to please the spicy food fanatics in a level that will let them feed pieces into their mouths without delay.

It's also quite easy to eat, rather tender, and slightly moist, which only seems to increase its snackability. And the meat consistency is great, practically all meat with very little unchewable tissues.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.